NOW BUTTERFIELD-YORK TANKERS
Page 47
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This cutaway drawing shows the general arrangement of the standard general-purpose tank semitrailer to be offered from stock by Butterfield-York.
By R. D. CATER
great interest to all companies
engaged in the operation of road tankers is the announcement today (Friday) of an association formed between the tank-building firm of W. P. Buttertield (Engineers) Ltd., Shipley, Yorks, and the York Trailer Co. Ltd., Corby, Northants, jointly to manufacture and market a range of articulated road tankers,
To be known as Butterfield-York tank trailers, they have been developed by a nationally recognized authority on tank design, Butterfield's Arthur Chectham, in conjunction with Peter Bloomfield, of York Trailer's engineering department, and provide a range of vehicles that will fulfil almost all the requirements of the tanker operator offthe-shelf.
It is the intention of the companies to build a number of stainless-steel generalpurpose tanks with a capacity of 5,000 gal. for stock, and when I visited the Butterfield works recently I saw the first four tanks already in the advanced stages of construction. Units of this type and of two others--namely. an elliptical or max-section fuel oiler built for 30 tons gross combination weight, and a petroleum spirit tank with a capacity of 4,000 gal. mounted on a single axle running gear and plated to operate at 22 tons g.c.w., also of elliptical or maxsection -go to make up the standard range.
To be able to keep up a reasonable production and so in turn always have ready vehicles for immediate delivery, it it necessary to keep strictly to a standard design. In order to achieve this and to provide a suitable vehicle for most requirements, the design adopted by Arthur Chcetham embodies a number of features which have been requested over a number of years by many of the leading operators. In addition to this the standard range is built to comply with the latest C. and U. Regulations. After testing, each unit will be plated accordingly.
Known as the BY1, the standard or general-purpose tank has the following dimensions; cylindrical section of 5 ft. 10 in. diameter and 31 ft. 4in, long. It has a maximum working pressure of 30 psi. and is mounted on a York TA Li ndem-axle running gear equipped with 3-line air brakes and York axles of 22,500 lb. capacity. This unit has a single compartment, with three baffles so situated that they will strengthen the tank where it is most needed—for instance, adjacent to the landing gear and at the ends of the fifth-wheel mountings and the running gear.
Both the spirit and fuel-oil tanks can be had, as stated earlier, in elliptical or max-section. at no difference in price. The 5,000-gal. fuel oiler has a section of 7 ft. 2 in. by 4 ft. 9 in. and an overall length of 31 ft.; the spirit tank has a section of 7 ft. 4 in. by 5 ft. 2 in. and an overall length of 23 ft. 5 in. Whilst the first of these two needs to be mounted on the TA tandem-axle bogie, the second can be used, plated to 22 tons, with a single-axle running-gear, or at 26 tons unplated when fitted with the TA bogie. Although the standard model is produced with five 800-gal. compartments there is an option of a sixcompartment model to the customers' specification.
Interchangeable Design
Much thought has been put into the general design of the vehicles and not the least important point taken care of is that of interchangeability between fourand six-wheeled tractive units. To overcome this problem Mr. Cheetham has designed the upper fifth-wheel mounting in such a way that the rubbing plate can easily be moved backwards and forwards in 5 in. stages through a total distance of 15 in., so adequately allowing for the differences in clearance between the fifth-wheel centre and the rearmost part of the tractive-unit chassis.
Apart from the obvious advantages to be gained by having a vehicle designed as a whole unit, it is immediately advantageous from the operator's point of view that the after-sales service organization of the York Trailer Co. will be able to supply not only trailer running-gear parts but also tank equipment. Also, because of the efficient association and the standard vehicles which are to be produced, it will be possible for any one of each company's representatives to give quotations practically off-the-cuff for a complete vehicle For operators running on TIR services op the Continent, York Trailer Europe, N.V. of Barendrecht, Rotterdam, will be available to provide service.
Although the standard stock units will be fitted with the York TA suspension, also available will be the York Airpoise tandem-axle and the Pneuride singleaxle, air-suspension running-gears. The merits of the York TA running gear are already well known, the most important pOint being its simplicity. An advantage claimed for this application is that the freedom from any complicated linkage in the non-reactive suspension allows a great deal of space for the discharge piping that must be carried on A tanker.
Tri-axle Prospects
Talking to Arthur Cheetham during my visit I asked if he could see any future for the York tri-axled outfit. From what he told me it would appear that a vehicle of this nature might well be the best and cheapest means of getting a 32 tons g.c.w., considering the increase in unladen weight of this type is only in the region of 15 cwt., even taking into account that it may be necessary to carry an extra spare wheel. Also, the fact that tractive units can be standardized as regards both length and king-pin position, and can be used to fill duties at 28, 30 and 32 tons g.c.w., only utilizing an extra axle when the trailer is capable of carryiag the weight, must give this configuration a place in the maximum g.c.w. picture. The only limiting factor is likely to be the ability of a single driving axle to provide sufficient traction on steep gradients. If operators will readily accept the new layout, it seems likely that some threeaxle tanker semi-trailers will be added to the standard range.
Both companies will, of course, carry on with their normal activities, supplying both tanks and-lunning gears to other manufacturers.